Cooking shows, statues that don't eat, teeth that also don't

[schneefink]

The NHL season is over! In theory that means I have more time to watch other things now. I've already started rewatching a few episodes of Leverage.
Last year's Festivids had two "Great British Bake-Off" vids that I enjoyed, All Rise by cosmic_llin and Cake to Bake by ohvienna. I watched a few episodes on the flight back from the US to Europe and they were nice.
I have a sudden urge to check out more cooking shows, because the dishes look nice and maybe for inspiration and maybe just because. But there are many of them! Which ones are your favorites, any you would recommend?

Last D&D session I got 300 extra XP for creative problem-solving approaches, I'm quite proud of myself. Illusion spells really lend themselves to tricks quite nicely. Unfortunately none of my original plans worked because one party member didn't want to play along and we ended up in a fight, but luckily my estimation of levels was wrong: our DM said our opponents looked like elite soldiers, but apparently after almost two days of being animate our characters had already leveled up enough to defeat them. Both people we wanted to help died though, and the only surviving opponent escaped, so we don't even have more information about what the hell is going on than we did before. (We had to hurry in the end because one player had to leave and the DM ended with "yes okay it's obvious that you're going to kill the remaining two, here's your loot list"; only afterwards I realized it would have been smarter not to kill them and interrogate them instead. Missed opportunity.)
I'm very appreciative of the fact that we play living statues and therefore don't have to eat. Makes the question of supply a lot easier. I really liked how in the last two Temeraire books it was emphasized how much in warfare is about having sufficient supply (especially when it comes to dragons!)

It looks like the wisdom tooth surgery spot is infected again, nooo :( It's swollen and it hurts. Ugh. I've also been tired the whole day, this might be related.

Comments

[theladyscribe]

In my experience, most cooking shows are not as much fun as GBBO. The American competition ones tend to ramp up the ~reality tv bitchiness, which doesn't really interest me. There are some interesting food documentaries on Netflix (if that's something you have access to) - I really liked Cooked, with Mark Pollan.

[schneefink]

I'll see if I can find that.
I watched one episode of "Chopped" and while I did enjoy the "have some random weird ingredients, now go do something with it" set-up, the production emphasized the competitiveness so much it was almost stressful. Maybe it was just that episode, idk.

[theladyscribe]

Yeah, Chopped is always like that, unfortunately. I watch it sometimes because I like seeing what they do with the ingredients, but everyone's super-competitive about it. The celebrity episodes tend to be less so I think? They're usually competing on behalf of a charity rather than for themselves.

[alatefeline]

No, it's the format emphasizing the competitive element, which I also dislike.

I rewatch old Iron Chef episodes for the food and subversively turn it off BEFORE the scoring, which boggles people.

[schneefink]

I don't think I could do that once I've already started ^^ Or maybe, I'd have to try.

[alatefeline]

That sounds like a really cool D&D session!

Good luck with teeth.

[schneefink]

It was! I've been enjoying playing so much, it's definitely time to buy my own dice instead of always borrowing the DM's.

Thanks, fortunately it already feels better today.

[alatefeline]

Yeah I hear you on the "always borrowing dice" thing. I do HAVE my own, it's just easier to borrow off of someone who I know has them ... until they give me that patient look for the nth time and I realize I am probably bothering them?

[schneefink]

One time we were missing several sets so our DM just found a website with a randomizer, and there's probably also an app one could use, but it's just not the same.
Now I just have to find some dice that I like. I went to a store yesterday but didn't find any: I'll use them a lot so I'm picky.

[alatefeline]

Being picky is wise, in this. Something you are going to frequently hold in your bare hands, look at closely, and use to help generate personally meaningful narratives needs to be something you are comfortable with.

My onetime roommate and DM had a set of copper dice that were beautiful and sturdy, but expensive and heavy. They looked rather like this ... https://www.amazon.com/Metal-Dice-Polyhedral-Set-Copper/dp/B00HEOISVS ... but hers were smaller than standard polyhedral dice size and I think they were actual copper.

My dice collection is "everything translucent and purple" but is small because I rarely add to it and I am cheap, which is wise because I am also close to broke.

[schneefink]

Exactly! Ideally I'd also prefer to hold them before I buy them, so not buy them online. The copper set is very pretty, for example, but I'm not sure what they'd feel like. I'll have to ask the other players where there are other stores in Vienna.
Fortunately once I have a set of dice I'm happy with I shouldn't need new ones for a while (although I'm already half-convinced I'll lose one.)

[alatefeline]

Yeah, don't buy stuff off of the internet that you need to *feel* to decide on. Frex, I am a texture freak, so all of my clothing has to be *felt* by me before I can approve/disapprove it. I shop a lot at thrift store, when I shop.

For future reference, for me, finding/posting a link to an item for sale doesn't mean I'm endorsing buying it, either in general or from that specific seller; it's more like tugging out a book on a shelf at a bookstore while browsing, so I can remember to write down the author's name to research at the library. (Why yes I have done that.) I should probably think of a concise way to explain for the *next* time I need an example of an item in an online conversation...

Good luck finding a helpful store in Vienna. I have no idea what your geek gaming scene is like there, or what kind of commercial infrastructure it has, other than that because it's a major city in a well-off country, there has to be *something.*

[schneefink]

I don't take links as endorsement unless explicitly stated, because using stuff as examples is just so convenient. I enjoy just browsing to see what the options are too.

I just found another store nearby, maybe I can even drop by before tomorrow's session. I also found one that just said "games" and turned out to be for the kind of game that uses figurines, that was nice to look at. And there's a forum for English-speaking RPG in Vienna with weekly meetings that I might check out :)
My group currently plays in German, but with an English rulebook and mostly using English terms for things like spells, so it often turns into a weird language mish-mash that I'd hate in most contexts.

[tielan]

It looks like the wisdom tooth surgery spot is infected again, nooo :( It's swollen and it hurts.

:(

How hard will it be to see a specialist about it?

[schneefink]

Easy, fortunately. I already had a check-up appointment for Thursday and I could most likely even get one before then, but it's already hurting less so I probably won't need it *knocks on wood*

[alatefeline]

Go anyway, mouth injuries/infections are notorious for stealth damage.

[schneefink]

I went today and they had to cut the wound open again :( I really hope this is the last time.

[alatefeline]

Sorry to hear that. I am hoping along with you - and thinking I need to schedule my dental checkup...

[schneefink]

Fingers crossed everything is fine!